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ABOUT JAPAN PLUMS— ARE THEY HARDY? 



AM frequently asked the question, 

 " What about Japan plums, are 

 ,_L they valuable and hardy enough 

 for Canada ? " There is no ques- 

 tion about their value if they are hardy, 

 at least many of them. They are early, 

 of good quality, and much less subject 

 to rot and fungus disease than our 

 varieties and European varieties. I have 

 been a little skeptical about their suc- 

 ceeding farther north than our peach 

 belt, as my own experience with them 

 has been that when the fruit buds of the 

 peach were destroyed by extreme cold, 

 they were also injured, though I know 

 the trees will stand more frost than the 

 peach, without killing back. I have 

 lately received a communication from 

 Dr. A. B. Dennis, of Cedar Rapids, 

 Iowa (a gentleman who is testing a large 

 number of varieties of plums there), 

 upon this subject, and as I think it will 

 be of interest to the readers of the 

 HoRTicuLTURLST, I will give you some 

 extracts from it. He says, " Among the 

 best commercial plums here of the Japs 

 are Burbank, Normand, Boton, Ogon, 

 Chabot, etc. I have not found any of 

 these plums extremely tender except the 

 Kelsey, which killed down to the 

 ground. The thermometer has been 

 down to 28 below zero, and yet trees 

 were ladened. I am aware Prof. Budd 

 has persisted in stating the Japan plums 

 will not do in any part of Iowa, but my 

 experience has demonstrated that some 



of them are valuable in our severe 

 climate. We are considerably out of 

 the peach belt, and but very few ever 

 fruit here except a few hardy seedlings. 

 Some of my Jap trees are eight years 

 old, yet all are as healthy as my natives. 

 Prof. Budd assured me ten years ago 

 that Japan plums were tender as weeds, 

 so I commenced with one or two trees, 

 and when it went 20 below zero, and 

 these little trees were ladened with fruit 

 it surprised me. One winter it went 30 

 below, and killed many of Prof. Budd's 

 Russian sorts, and not even a tree of 

 the Japs were killed nor were the fruit 

 buds injured. Of course I can not say 

 what they will do with you, but the facts 

 I state and the 25 bushels of plums of 

 Japan type raised the past season, speak 

 better than I can write." 



From this letter I am encouraged to 

 believe that these valuable plums may be 

 grown over a large portion of Ontario. 

 We are having them tested at some of 

 our Experimental Stations, and I trust 

 others who have tested them will give 

 us their experience through the Horti- 

 culturist, so we may know their true 

 value and where they will succeed, in 

 the near future. In the meantime 

 planters living within the peach belt 

 need not hesitate to plant largely of 

 them. 



A. M. Smith. 



S/. Catharines. 



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